Paper cup handling apparatus, for chocolates and the like



Sept. 19, 1933. Q BLASCO 1,927,151

PAPER CUP HANDLING APPARATUS FQR CHOCQLATES AND THE LIKE Filed u 16, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 [N VEN TOR.

Sept. 19, 1933. c BLASCQ PAPER CUP HANDLING APPARATUS FOR CHOCOLATES AND THE LIKE Filed Aug. 16, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

10 the cups.

Patented Sept. 19, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PAPER CUP HANDLING APPARATUS, FOR CHOCOLATES AND THE LIKE My invention relates to the improvement in paper cup handling apparatus, for chocolates and the like, and more particularly to such apparatus used in the handling or vending of the indi- 5 'vidua'l paper cups during the 'process'of packing or boxing chocolates and other confections.

Such cups are generally made of paper discs which are dished into shape by corrugating 'or crinkling the portions which form the sides of They are used extensively for holding individual chocolates, bon bons, chocolate covered nuts and similar confections and arealmost invariably employed in boxed candies for holding the individual candies. I 5 One object of my invention is to provide 'a structure and arrangement of parts that will facilitate placing the candies into the cups during the process of boxing them.

Another object of this invention is to provide an arrangement whereby the operator who packs the candies into boxes will have both hands free for this purpose thereby obviating the necessity, as'is at present the practice, of utilizing'one hand for separating and arranging the paper-cups during this operation. g

A further object of the invention is to provide simple and-efficient means for feeding or distributing paper cups successively at a predetermined rate-onto a moving belt or other suitable surface from which the candies are packed.

A still further object is to provide paper cup handling apparatus for the purpose described which is thoroughly. practical commercially. Y

Other objects and advantages will appear as the specification progresses and the novel features will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, illustrating a preferredform of the invention, Fig. 1 is a detailed side elevation showing the cup feeding and distributing mechanism. Fig. 2 is a detailed view looking along line 22 of Fig. 1. Figs. 3 and 4 are fragmentary views illustrating the manner in which the cups are released and thereafter thrown'onto 5 the moving assembly'belt.

With particular reference to Figs. 1 and 2, a

horizontal-supporting member is shown at 1 which may comprise the top of a table, assemblybench or othersuitable surface. A magazine 2 comprising a vertical tube is held in perpendicular relation to the table 1 by means of a bolt 3; one

end of said bolt being fastened to the table by means of nuts 4, the other end being secured to the tube 2 by suitable rivets 5. The tube '2 may be any length desired, in order to accommodate a large number of paper cups 6, which cups are nested into a vertical stack within said 'tube. The inside diameter of the tube should be slightly larger than the diameter of the cups when stacked, in order to permit of a free downward motion of the cups within said tube. A weight '7 may be placed above the stack of cups, in order to facilitate the downward motion of the cups.

Means is provided in astep-by-step or ratchet arrangement, whereby the cups may be released one at a time. This comprises a horizontally disposed rock-arm 8 pivotally mounted at '9 'to the tube 2. Said arm terminates in two downwardly projecting fingers 10 and 11, respectively; the arm being U-shaped in order to dispose the integral fingers 10 and 11 thereof on diametrically opposite sides of the tube 2 The arm 8 is provided with a portion 12 extending downwardly therefrom. This extension may be made integrally with the arm and the lowermost endof the former is forked at '13 'in order to provide two bearings 14 by means of which a roller 15 may be rotatably' supported. It willbe'noted from Fig. 1 that an upward motion of the extension 12 will rock the arm 8 about its pivotal support and this motion is yieldably opposed 'by the action of a suitable spring 16.

Referring now particularly to Fig. 2, a bearing hanger 17 will be seen extending downwardly from the lower side of the table top from which top it is rigidly supported. The bearing 18.has a shaft 19 rotatable therein, one end of said shaft carrying for rotation therewith a grooved pulley 20 while the opposite end likewise supports 90 a disc 21. The pulley and disc are fastened to rotate with the shaft by means of nuts 22.

Thedisc 21 carries an integral projection 23. This projection is a cam, which is so located radially on the disc and the periphery 23 of which is so shaped that an upward movement :is imparted to the lever 12, through the medium of the roller 15, during each revolution of the disc in a counterclockwise direction (Fig. 1).

A pin 24, projecting from and in perpendicular relation to the disc, serves to pivotally support a lever 25 The arm 25 is substantially L-shaped and the long side thereof, which is curved so as to closely follow the contour of the disc, terminates in a finger 26. The other end 2'7 of the arm has a tension spring 28 fastened thereto, the stationary end of said spring being held by a pin 29. .Member 25 may be stamped out of sheet metal and thereafter twisted at 30 to provide a portion 31 which lies in a plane perpendicular to the disc 21. The portion 31 is preferably circular in shape and of a diameter approximating that of the bottom of a paper cup 6. Moreover, the position of the stack of cups is such with respect to the disc 31 that when the disc 21 is rotated to the position shown in Fig. 1, the disc 31 will coincide and contact with the bottom of the lowermost cup in the stack.

In the operation of the device the finger 10 will alone normally serve to prevent the stack of cups from moving downwardly when the disc 31 is not in registration with the lowermost cup, because the spring 16 will rock the lever 8 until the finger 10 presses against the bottom cup. Referring to Fig. 1, when the disc 21 is rotated to the position shown, the finger 26 will assume a position where further rotation of 21 would tend to move the bottomcup to the left. Since, at this position, finger 11 does not contact with the bottom cup the latter, due to its own weight, its conical shape and the circular tension in its rim caused by the tightly packed and internested corrugations, will tend to assume the inclined position shown in Fig. 3. This position is further brought about by movement of finger 26 to the left until the bottom cup commences to become distorted. At this instant the cam 23 which has engaged the roller 15 causes an upward movement of member 12, whereupon finger 10 instantly releases its grip on the cup and permits same to be carried to the left with the disc 31. The adjustment of fingers 10 and 11 may be such that during the portion of the operating cycle just explained finger 11 will grip the cup on one side just as finger 10 releases said cup on the diametrically opposite side. It will be evident that further movement of lever 25 to the left will bring the bottom cupv to the position shown in Fig. 4, excessive distortion of this released cup being obviated due to the fact that the tension of spring 28 is sufficiently light to permit said cup, while its rim slidably contacts the bottom of the stack, to push the disc 31 down a short distance.

Referring again to Fig. 1, a cam 32, fastened by means of screws 33 to the table 1, has an arcuate edge 32 disposed adjacent theperiphery of disc 21 and adapted to engage a roller 34 on the lever 25. The purpose of this cam and roller is to gain control ofthe motion of lever 25 immediately after the released cup is moved past the position shown in Fig. 4. Furthermore, when cam surface 32 contacts the roller 34 it limits and controls radial movement of the disc 31 so that the cup will be thrown tangentially to the left by finger 26. Any adjustable stop 35 may be employed to limit unnecessary overtravel of lever 25 occasioned by spring 28 when the roller 34 is not in rotative registration with cam 32'.

In order to prevent slippage of cups from finger 31, it is highly desirable to line the metal surfaces of 31 and 26 which contact the cups with rubber or other suitable material.

In boxing or packing chocolates and the like it is the practice to have the candles travel to the packers from a refrigerating unit (not shown) on a moving belt 40 (Fig. 4), which'belt may be arranged to form a continuation or part of the bench 1. In such applications of my invention a round belt 41 may be provided for driving the pulley 20 directly from a pulley 42 which rotates with one of the power-driven belt rollers 43. By thus coupling the moving table surface 40 with the driven pulley 20 the paper cups may be thrown to the left and onto the moving belt to in definite timed relation to the motion of the latter, thereby depositing equally spaced paper cups thereon.

In Fig. 3 a small tube 44 is shown. If desired such a tube may be provided and connected to an air supply, whereby .a continuous current of air directed against the rim of the lowermost cup will facilitate said cup to assume the inclined position shown when finger 11 releases its grip therefrom.

From the above description and with particular reference to Fig. 1, an obvious modification will suggest itself, and I therefore do not wish to limit the scope of my invention to specific structure shown in the drawings. For example, it will be apparent that the rock arm 8 may be made of two independently movable halves, each pivoted at 9, so that fingers 10 and 11 may be independently controlled. In this case an extension similar to arm 12 could be provided integrally with and for controlling the operation of finger 11.

It is obvious that numerous changes may be made in the details set forth without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the claims.

I claim:

1. In a device of the character described, a magazine for holding a plurality of paper cups in a vertical stack, an opening on the bottom of said magazine, a plurality of holding members disposed adjacent said opening for normally restraining downward motion of said cups through said opening, a continuously rotating member disposed below said magazine, cam means .on said member for moving said holding members to release said cups successively, and additional means pivotally mounted on said continuously rotating member for throwing the released cups in a horizontal direction away from said magazine.

2. In a device of the character described, a magazine for holding a plurality of paper cups in a vertical stack, an opening in the bottom thereof, a plurality of holding members disposed adjacent said opening and adapted to engage the lowermost cup in said stack, a continuously rotating member below said stack having means thereon for successively releasing and engaging said holding members with said cup, driving means for rotating said rotating member and throwing means pivotally supported on said rotating member for throwing the released cups horizontally away from said magazine.

magazine for holding a plurality of paper cups in a vertical stack, an opening in the bottom thereof, a plurality of holding fingers disposed adjacent said opening and adapted to engage the lowermost'cup in said'stack, a continuously rotating member below said stack having means thereon for successively releasing and engaging said holding fingers with said cup, and additional throwing means pivotally mounted directly on said rotating member and adapted to engage said cup during and in definite timed relation to said successive releasing and engaging action of said holding members.

4. In a device of the character described, the combination with a magazine for holding a plurality of paper cups in a vertical stack, of an opening in the bottom of said magazine, a plurality of holding fingers disposed adjacent said 3. In a device of the character described, a

opening and adapted to engage the lowermost cup in said stack, a continuously rotating disc disposed below said stack and having cam means thereon for operating said holding fingers to successively release said cups, and additional throwing means pivotally mounted on said disc and having a radially extending portion adapted to engage the lowermost cup during and in definite timed relation to the movement of said holding fingers for engaging and throwing the released cup tangentially of said disc.

5. In a device of the character described, the combination with a magazine for holding a plurality of paper cups in a vertical stack, of an opening in the bottom of said magazine, a plurality of holding fingers disposed adjacent said opening and adapted to alternately engage the lowermost cup in said stack, a rotatable disc disposed below said stack and having cam means thereon for operating said holding fingers to successively release said cups, and a throwing lever pivotally mounted on said disc and having a terminal portion adapted to engage the lowermost cup during and in definite timed relation to the movement of said holding fingers, for engaging and subsequently throwing the released cup horizontally away from said stack.

6. The combination with a vertical magazine for holding a plurality of paper cups, of means below said magazine for successively releasing said cups comprising a disc member disposed for rotation in a vertical plane, a cam-operated release member pivotally supported adjacent the bottom of said magazine for releasing said cups successively, cam means fastened on said disc member for operating said release member, and additional means on said disc member operable in definite timed relationto the operation of said release member for throwing the released cups away from said magazine.

CLARE BLASCO. 

